IC having a metal ring thereon for stress reduction

ABSTRACT

An integrated circuit (IC) includes a substrate including circuitry configured for a function, the circuitry including at least one stress sensitive circuit portion, with at least a portion of nodes in the circuitry electrically coupled to bond pads provided by a top metal layer. A metal wall that is ring-shaped is positioned above the top metal layer that is not electrically coupled to the circuitry. The stress sensitive circuit portion is with at least a majority of its area within an inner area of the substrate that is framed by the metal wall to provide a cavity.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a Divisional of application Ser. No. 16/859,530filed Apr. 27, 2020, which claims the benefit of Provisional ApplicationSer. No. 62/947,068 entitled “Novel approach for localized packagestress reduction on Silicon using FCOL”, filed Dec. 12, 2019, which isherein incorporated by reference in its entirety.

FIELD

This Disclosure relates to integrated circuits (ICs) and packageddevices including at least one IC including plastic packages.

BACKGROUND

There are known to be parametric shifts, drifts and variations forpackaged devices that include at least one IC that comprises stresssensitive circuitry due to package stress, and more specifically moldcompound induced stress. As examples, for precision analog devices,which is one example type of stress sensitive circuitry, package stresscan result in a higher non-linearity in case of precision analog todigital converters (ADCs), higher offset voltage or offset voltage driftin case of amplifiers, and lower accuracy and higher noise for referencecircuits. Precision analog devices often include matching circuits, butnot always, such as in the cases of references and bandgap circuitswhich may not be matching circuit-based. Although gradient cancelationtechniques such as at test trim (implemented either at the IC/waferlevel or at package level test) are known that can be used to minimizethese performance problems, such performance problems still tend to showup as unit-to-unit between a population of packaged device units,variability such as across temperature, post-operating life orreliability stress, and a resulting degraded performance andcorresponding lower performance specification for the packaged device.

One known packaged device arrangement comprises flipchip on leadframe(FCOL). For FCOL, the top side of an IC generally comprising a siliconsubstrate and having solder capped pillars on its bond pads is bonded tothe leads or lead terminals of the leadframe for providing both thethermal and electrical connections directly from the substrate of the ICto the leadframe.

SUMMARY

This Summary is provided to introduce a brief selection of disclosedconcepts in a simplified form that are further described below in theDetailed Description including the drawings provided. This Summary isnot intended to limit the claimed subject matter's scope.

Disclosed aspects include an IC comprising a substrate includingcircuitry configured for a function, the circuitry including at leastone stress sensitive circuit portion, with at least a portion of nodesin the circuitry electrically coupled to bond pads provided by a topmetal layer. A metal wall that is ring-shaped is positioned above thetop metal layer that is not electrically coupled to the circuitry. Thestress sensitive circuit portion is positioned with at least a majorityof its area within an inner area of the substrate framed by the metalwall.

Disclosed aspects also include a packaged device including a disclosedIC. As used herein, the term ‘packaged devices’ include leadframe-baseddevices including at least one IC that are molded devices, with orwithout wirebonding such as a FCOL arrangement, where a disclosedpackaged device can also optionally include bond wires. The metal wallprevents at least a portion of the mold compound (e.g., at least thefiller particles in the mold compound) from entering an inner cavitythat comprises the inner area which is framed by the metal wall.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings, which are notnecessarily drawn to scale, wherein:

FIG. 1A shows a top view depiction of a disclosed IC having an examplemetal wall shown as a continuous metal wall around stress sensitivecircuit portions of its circuitry, where the stress sensitive circuitportions are shown optionally positioned entirely within an inner areaof the substrate framed by the metal wall, according to an exampleaspect.

FIG. 1B shows a cross-sectional view of the IC shown in FIG. 1A bondedto a leadframe to provide a packaged device, where the bumps on the bondpads of the IC are shown bonded to lead terminals of the leadframe.

FIG. 1C depicts the repurposing of an IC die on the left side havingconventional bond pads by adding FCOL bumps and a disclosed metal wallsurrounding the stress sensitive circuit portions on the IC to providethe IC shown in FIG. 1A.

FIG. 1D shows a top view depiction of a disclosed IC having an examplediscontinuous metal wall around stress sensitive circuit portions of itscircuitry. The stress sensitive circuit portions are again shownoptionally positioned entirely within an inner area of the substrateframed by the metal wall.

FIGS. 2A-2J depict successive results from method steps for an examplemanufacturing flow for forming a disclosed IC having a disclosed metalwall surrounding the stress sensitive circuit portion on the IC, withFIG. 2K shows a resulting packaged device after mounting the IC on aleadframe and then molding to form a mold compound. The packaged deviceincludes a disclosed cavity over the sensitive portion of the IC, withthe cavity walls being provided by the metal wall. FIG. 2L shows theresulting arrangement after mounting a disclosed packaged deviceincluding an IC having a metal wall onto land pads of a PCB.

FIG. 3A-3C depict successive results from disclosed method steps forforming a packaged device comprising an open cavity sensor, where theleadframe has an opening so that the stress sensitive circuit portion onthe IC enclosed by the metal wall is exposed to the atmosphere. Thisprocess flow follows the same flow described above through FIGS. 2A-2I,so it will not be repeated in this series of FIGS. FIG. 3A shows aclose-up of a leadframe that includes an opening in a center metalsupport region that corresponds to a location of the metal wall on theIC that will be bonded to the leadframe. FIG. 3B corresponds to resultsof flipchip mounting of the IC to the leadframe shown FIG. 2J, except inthis flow as described above the leadframe includes a center opening.FIG. 3C corresponds to the results after molding the flipchip mounted ICon the leadframe as shown FIG. 2J, except in this flow the leadframeincludes a center opening, to form a QFN package with an open cavitysensor. FIG. 3D shows a cross-sectional view of an example gullwingpackage including gullwing leads as another example of a leaded packagethat also implements an open cavity sensor.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Example aspects are described with reference to the drawings, whereinlike reference numerals are used to designate similar or equivalentelements. Illustrated ordering of acts or events should not beconsidered as limiting, as some acts or events may occur in differentorder and/or concurrently with other acts or events. Furthermore, someillustrated acts or events may not be required to implement amethodology in accordance with this Disclosure.

FIG. 1A shows a top view depiction of a disclosed IC 100 comprising asubstrate 105 having an example metal wall 130 that is shown beingcontinuous that is positioned around its stress sensitive circuitportions 180 a ₁ and 180 a ₂ of its circuitry 180 that is formed in thesubstrate 105. The circuitry 180 comprises circuit elements (includingtransistors, and generally diodes, resistors, capacitors, etc.) formedin the substrate 105, such as comprising an epitaxial layer on a bulksubstrate material such as silicon, configured together for generallyrealizing at least one circuit function. Example circuit functionsinclude analog (e.g., amplifier or power converter), radio frequency(RF), digital, or non-volatile memory functions.

The IC 100 includes a top metal layer including bond pads 108, and thereare a plurality of bumps 109, such as pillars, on the bond pads 108. Inthe case the IC 100 includes at least one redistribution layer (RDL),the bumps can comprise bump pads. The metal wall 130 is ring-shapedshown by example in FIG. 1A being rectangular, and is positioned abovethe top metal layer, and unlike the bond pads 108, is not electricallycoupled to the circuitry 180. As used herein, the ring-shape can becircular or substantially circular, elliptical, rectangular, orsquare-shaped. Although the metal wall 130 in FIG. 1A is shown as beinga continuous wall, disclosed metal walls may also be discontinuous wallsas shown in FIG. 1D described below. Disclosed metal walls such as themetal wall 130 generally comprise copper (Cu), that can be applied postmetallization and passivation processing.

The metal wall 130 generally has a width that is between 10 μm and 200μm. A typical ratio of the width of the metal wall 130 to a height ofthe metal wall 130 is typically between 0.5 to 2. The area enclosed bythe metal wall 130 can vary significantly. The metal wall 130 can berectangular in shape as shown in FIG. 1A, circular, or another shape.The metal wall 130 can have a relatively large area, such as a 3 mm×3 mmsquare, or relatively small area, such as being 100 micron×100 micron inarea, and being square in shape.

The stress sensitive circuit portions 180 a ₁ and 180 a ₂ are shownoptionally positioned entirely within an inner area of the substrate 105framed by the metal wall 130. The metal wall 130 frames an inner areafor the stress sensitive circuit portions 180 a ₁ and 180 a ₂.

FIG. 1B shows a cross-sectional view of the IC 100 shown in FIG. 1Abonded to a leadframe 140 to provide a leadless packaged device 150,where the bumps 109 on the bond pads 108 of the IC 100 are shown bondedto lead terminals 141 of the leadframe 140. The leadframe 140 includes aleadframe segment 142 that the metal wall 130 is shown positioned on.Nodes for the IC 100 in FIG. 1B are shown connected to some of the bumps109 in FIG. 1A, which although not shown generally include bumps 109coupled to the stress sensitive circuit portions 180 a ₁ and 180 a ₂shown as stress sensitive circuit portion 180 a ₁ in FIG. 1B. The nodesfor the stress sensitive circuit portions 180 a ₁ and 180 a ₂ may alsoconnect to other nodes in the circuitry 180. The leadless packageddevice 150 is shown including a mold compound 170.

In the case of a leaded or a leadless packaged device such as theleadless packaged device 150 shown in FIG. 1B, after the IC is bonded tothe leads or lead terminals of the leadframe, and molding follows toform the mold compound 170, the metal wall being positioned around thestress sensitive circuit portion(s) on the IC prevents at least aportion of the mold compound 170 from entering the inner area of thesubstrate. More specifically, the cavity 195 defined by the metal wall130 prevents the mold compound filler particles from reaching locationson the stress sensitive circuit portions 180 a ₁, 180 a ₂. In the caseof a mold compound including filler particles, disclosed metal walls canprevent entry into the inner area of the mold compound's fillerparticles when they are above a certain size. In a typical mold compoundarrangement, the filler particles (generally being silica particles) cancomprise 80 to 90% (by weight) of the mold compound 170.

By including a disclosed metal wall, there is thus decoupling of thestress sensitive circuit portions 180 a ₁, 180 a ₂ from at least themold compound's 170 filler particle induced stresses, because alow-stress region is created in the inner area of the substrate 105framed by the metal wall 130. The metal wall 130 thus protects the IC'sstress sensitive circuit portion(s) by preventing degradation (eithersystematic or random) of the parametric performance for disclosedpackaged devices.

FIG. 1C depicts the repurposing of an IC 190 on the left side havingconventional bond pads 108. IC 190 shown on the right side of FIG. 1C isrepurposed by adding bumps 109 and a disclosed metal wall 130surrounding the stress sensitive circuit portions 180 _(a1) and 180_(a2) on the IC to provide the IC 100 shown in FIG. 1A, which is againshown in FIG. 1C as IC 100.

FIG. 1D shows a top view depiction of a disclosed IC 160 having anexample metal wall 130′ that is discontinuous wall which is positionedaround the stress sensitive circuit portions 180 a ₁ and 180 a ₂ of itscircuitry 180. The stress sensitive circuit portions 180 a ₁ and 180 a ₂are again shown optionally positioned entirely within an inner area ofthe substrate 105 framed by the metal wall 130′. The metal wall 130′ canbe seen to comprise a plurality of staggered protruding features 133which may comprise pillars or posts having gaps 134 between theprotruding features 133.

FIG. 2A to 2I depict successive results from an example manufacturingflow for forming a disclosed IC 200 analogous to the IC 100 describedabove except IC 200 generally includes an environmental sensor, where IC200 has a metal wall 130 surrounding the stress sensitive circuitportion 180 a on the IC 200. FIG. 2J shows the results after mounting adisclosed IC 200 having a metal wall 130 onto a leadframe 140, and theforming of a mold compound 170, singulating into packaged devices fromthe leadframe strip, with FIG. 2L showing the packaged device mountedonto a PCB 265. This manufacturing flow forms precision packaged ICs,which include a cavity shown in FIG. 2L as 195, where the walls of thecavity 195 are framed by the metal wall 130. Packaged devices formed bythis flow generally have IC 200 including an environmental sensor, suchas a humidity, light, or a sound sensor.

In FIG. 2A an IC 200 is shown comprising a substrate 105 havingcircuitry 180 including a stress sensitive circuit portion shown as 180a. At this point in the process the IC 200 is in the form of a waferhaving a plurality of the ICs physically connected to one another by thesubstrate 105, where the wafer has completed its back end of the line(BEOL) processing including multilevel metallization and one or morepatterned passivation layers on top of the top metal layer of themultilayer metal stack.

FIG. 2B shows the results for IC 200 after coating the top surface ofthe IC 200 with a seed metal layer 208. The seed metal layer 208 maycomprise for example Ti or TiW, which can be deposited by a processcomprising sputtering. FIG. 2C shows the results for IC 200 after alayer of photoresist 212 is applied on top of the seed metal layer 208.FIG. 2D shows the results for IC 200 after exposing and developing thelayer of photoresist 212 to provide the ring pattern 211 shown and thecylindrical-shaped openings 209, which in both cases exposes a portionof the seed metal layer 208. The area enclosed by the ring pattern 211is large enough to optionally enclose the entire area of the stresssensitive circuit portion(s) on the IC 200. The shapes shown for thering pattern 211 and cylindrical-shaped openings 209 are only forexample. As an alternative to the photoresist 212, a layer of dielectricmaterial may also be patterned over the seed metal layer 208.

FIG. 2E shows the results for IC 200 after forming a metal, generallycomprising electroplating in the case of copper as the metal, with metalbeing deposited within the ring pattern 211 to form a metal wall 230,and also to form pillars 219 inside the cylindrical-shaped openings 209.FIG. 2F shows the results for IC 200 after forming solder 227 on the topsurface of the metal wall 230 and on the pillars 219, such as utilizinga process comprising electroplating. FIG. 2G shows the results for IC200 after stripping the photoresist 212. FIG. 2H shows the results forIC 200 after etching to remove the seed metal layer 208 except under themetal wall 230 and the pillars 219. FIG. 2I shows the results for IC 200after reflowing the solder 227 described above which is now shown as 227a. A plurality of the IC 200 are then singulated from a wafer having aplurality of the IC 200 to provide a plurality of singulated IC.

FIG. 2J shows the results after performing a flipchip die attach of theIC 200 to a leadframe 140 shown including lead terminals 141, thatcorresponds to what is shown in FIG. 1B described above, except for nothaving any mold compound at this point. FIG. 2K shows the resultingpackaged device 250 after mounting the IC 200 onto a leadframe 140 andthen molding to form a mold compound 170. The packaged device 250includes a disclosed cavity shown in the cross-section as 195 over thesensitive portion (cavity 195 is shown in FIG. 2L described below) ofthe IC 200 framed by the metal wall 130.

FIG. 2L shows the resulting arrangement 280 after mounting a disclosedpackaged device 250 including an IC 200 having a metal wall 130 ontoland pads 266 of a PCB 265. Solder, shown as 277 a, may be used bond theleadframe 140 to the land pads 266 of the PCB 265. A disclosed cavity195 can also be seen within the inner area defined by the metal wall130, and the stress sensitive circuit portion 180 a can be seen to havethe cavity 195 thereover, thus reducing the stress to the stresssensitive circuit portion 180 a that can be caused by the mold compound170 when it is conventionally over the stress sensitive circuit portion180 a.

Advantages of this manufacturing flow and the packaged devices formedtherefrom include generally providing the best features of the plasticand ceramic packages together, even though a plastic package is used.Plastic for packaging is beneficial for size, cost, protecting the ICpackage interconnects, as well as the electrical and thermalperformance. As described above, the cavity 195 is for eliminating moldfiller particle in the mold compound from inducing stresses on stresssensitive circuit portion(s) on the IC because the stress sensitivecircuit portion(s) is closer to the stress neutral center of the IC andthe package. This disclosed flow also allows for a wide range ofdifferent cavities created, where one can make small openings becausethe photolithography and plating processes described above are generallyprecise.

This embodiment can optionally be combined with stress buffers(polyimide (PI), polybenzoxazole (PBO), and silicone) and coatings.Stress buffers are coatings applied on top of the IC die prior toassembly, either in a bump or a fabrication facility, to buffer stressesfrom mold compound. Bond pads are not covered with the coatings to allowbonding thereto. Stress buffers can reduce but not necessarily eliminatestresses. Photolithography and plating enable parallel creation of alarge number of cavities, because a whole wafer with a very large number(generally tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands) of IC can besimultaneously processed at a given time.

This disclosed flow eliminates the need for any special molding toolingand can reuse the standard molding tool with flat cavities (i.e., nospecial inserts). The photolithography pattern (mask) for forming themetal wall can be modified to create different sizes and shapes for themetal wall, such as circular, elliptical, rectangles with roundedcorners. New sizes and shapes for the metal wall can also generally becreated with minimal time, cost, and effort. One can reuse standardequipment, materials and processes for forming the metal walls and forthe assembly disclosed ICs having the metal wall. Plated metal providesprecise and robust shape for the cavity. This aspect provides a long andreliable operating life for the packaged device. The cavity can stressisolate only the stress sensitive portion(s) of the IC, while lettingthe mold compound 170 (plastic) of the package encapsulate and protectthe rest of the IC. A metal wall and the metal of the leadframe alsogenerally provides a robust hermetic enclosure for cavity. Finally, whenthe bumps comprise pillars, they generally comprise the same copperlayer used for interconnects so that they are essentially freeby-products being formed at the same time as the metal wall 130, whichcan eliminate bond wires and also provide a relatively low parasiticinterconnect.

FIGS. 3A-3C depict successive results from method steps for forming apackaged device comprising an open cavity sensor, where the leadframe340 a has a support region 315 having opening 318 so that the stresssensitive circuit portion(s) generally including an environmental sensoron the IC enclosed by the metal wall 130 is now exposed to theenvironment. This flow follows the same flow described above throughFIGS. 2A-2I, so it will not be repeated in the series of FIGS. FIG. 3Ashows a close-up of a leadframe 340 a that includes a support region 315with an opening 318 that corresponds to a location of the metal wall ofthe IC that will be bonded to the leadframe 340 a. As described before,the lead terminals are shown as 141. The leadframe 340 a as noted aboveis generally provided as part of a leadframe panel comprising aplurality of leadframes.

FIG. 3B corresponds to the results after flipchip mounting of an ICshown as 300 to the leadframe shown FIG. 2J, except in this flow asdescribed above the leadframe 340 a includes a center opening 318. Thestress sensitive circuit portion 180 a generally including anenvironmental sensor can be seen to be exposed to the environment by theopening 318. FIG. 3C corresponds to the results after molding the IC 300to form a mold compound 170 which is subsequent to flipchip mounting theIC 300 onto the leadframe as shown FIG. 2J, except in this flow asdescribed above the leadframe 340 a includes a center opening 318 in thesupport region 315, to form a QFN package 360 that provides an opencavity sensor.

The cross-sectional view in FIG. 3D shows an example gullwing packageshown as 380 with the leadframe now shown as 340 b, and with the cavitynow shown as 195′. The gullwing package 380 includes gullwing leads 367as an example of a leaded package that also implements the open cavitysensor, where the cavity 195′ enabled by the opening 318 in theleadframe 340 b enables the sensor to have access to the environment.The cavity 195′ is up facing for the gullwing package 380. The leads forleaded packages need not be the gullwing type leads shown.

This disclosed flow has the same advantages described above relative tothe assembly flow shown in FIGS. 2A to 2L. In addition, this disclosedassembly flow by providing a cavity 195 which is down facing as shown inFIG. 3A-3C provides protection for the sensor generally in the stresssensitive circuit portion 180 a from dirt, debris, and cleaning fluidsthat could otherwise collect in the cavity. Also, this flow provides astandard package surface on the top side for conventional pick and placeequipment at surface mount (SMT), such as for mounting to a PCB.

A known industry solution for high precision packaged devices is to useceramic packaging, which is significantly more expensive as compared toconventional plastic packaging approaches that are disclosed herein.Advantages of disclosed aspects which enable plastic packaged devicesinclude:

(a) obtaining the circuit performance of ceramic packaging, but atsignificantly lower cost in a plastic package by leveraging existingmanufacturing technology;

(b) being applicable for both leaded and non-lead packages such as QFN,and

(c) being applicable to new designs or for re-purposing/replacingwirebond package designs (see FIG. 1C described above), such as withflipchip designs.

Disclosed aspects can be integrated into a variety of assembly flows toform a variety of different packaged devices and related products. Theassembly can comprise single semiconductor die or multiple semiconductordie, such as configurations comprising a plurality of stackedsemiconductor die. A variety of package substrates may be used. Thesemiconductor die may include various elements therein and/or layersthereon, including barrier layers, dielectric layers, device structures,active elements and passive elements including source regions, drainregions, bit lines, bases, emitters, collectors, conductive lines,conductive vias, etc. Moreover, the semiconductor die can be formed froma variety of processes including bipolar, insulated-gate bipolartransistor (IGBT), CMOS, BiCMOS and MEMS.

Those skilled in the art to which this Disclosure relates willappreciate that many variations of disclosed aspects are possible withinthe scope of the claimed invention, and further additions, deletions,substitutions and modifications may be made to the above-describedaspects without departing from the scope of this Disclosure.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A method of fabricating an integratedcircuit (IC), comprising: providing a substrate including circuitryconfigured for a function including a stress sensitive circuit portion;and forming a solid same metal wall that is ring-shaped having opposingend surfaces, one of the end surfaces attached to the substrate and theother end surface attached to a metal pad that covers the entire otherend surface, wherein the stress sensitive circuit portion is positionedwith a least a majority of its area within an inner area of thesubstrate that is framed by the solid metal wall to provide a cavity. 2.The method of claim 1, wherein the function the circuitry implementscomprises that of an amplifier, an analog to digital converter (ADC), adigital to analog converter (DAC), a voltage reference, a sensor forsensing a physical parameter, or a micro-electromechanical system (MEMS)device including at the sensor for sensing the physical parameter. 3.The method of claim 1, wherein a width of the metal wall is between 10μm and 200 μm.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the stress sensitivecircuit portion comprises an environmental sensor for sensing a physicalparameter.
 5. The method of claim 1, further comprising: forming aleadframe including leads or lead terminals, forming a pad, wherein oneof the opposing end surfaces is coupled to the substrate and another ofthe opposing end surfaces is coupled to the pad, and molding to form amold compound to provide encapsulation for a packaged device, wherein atleast a portion of the mold compound is excluded from being inside thesolid same metal wall.
 6. The method of claim 5, wherein the couplingthe opposing end surfaces to the substrate and to the pad comprisesflipchip bonding the opposing end surfaces to the leads or to the leadterminals.
 7. The method of claim 1, further including covering the ICwith a mold compound, wherein at least a portion of the mold compound isexcluded from being inside the continuous metal wall.
 8. The method ofclaim 1, further including an opening though the leadframe for exposingthe cavity to an environment.
 9. The method of claim 1, furtherincluding a lid for sealing the cavity.
 10. A method of fabricating anintegrated circuit (IC), comprising: forming a substrate includingcircuitry configured for a function, the circuitry including at leastone stress sensitive circuit portion; and forming a continuous solidsame metal wall that is ring-shaped having opposing end surfaces, one ofthe end surfaces attached to the substrate and the other end surfaceattached to a metal pad that covers the entire other end surface,wherein the stress sensitive circuit portion is positioned with at leasta majority of its area within an inner area of the substrate that isframed by the continuous metal wall to provide a cavity.
 11. The methodof claim 10, wherein the function the circuitry implements comprisesthat of an amplifier, an analog to digital converter (ADC), a digital toanalog converter (DAC), a voltage reference, an environmental sensor forsensing a physical parameter, or a micro-electromechanical system (MEMS)device including at least the sensor for sensing the physical parameter.12. The method of claim 10, wherein a width of the metal wall is between10 μm and 200 μm.
 13. The method of claim 10, wherein the stresssensitive circuit portion comprises an environmental sensor for sensinga physical parameter.
 14. The method of claim 10, wherein the at leastone stress sensitive circuit portion comprises a first stress sensitiveportion and at least a second stress sensitive portion.
 15. The methodof claim 10, wherein the ring-shaped comprises a circular shape.
 16. Themethod of claim 10, wherein the stress sensitive circuit portion ispositioned entirely within the inner area.
 17. A method of fabricating apackaged device, comprising: forming an integrated circuit (IC),comprising: forming a substrate including circuitry configured for afunction, the circuitry including at least one stress sensitive circuitportion, with at least a portion of nodes in the circuitry electricallycoupled to bond pads provided by a top metal layer, wherein there arebonding features on the bond pads, wherein the stress sensitive circuitportion comprises an environmental sensor for sensing a physicalparameter, and wherein the leadframe has an opening though the leadframeconfigured so that the stress sensitive circuit portion is exposed to anenvironment; forming a continuous metal wall that is ring-shapedpositioned above the top metal layer that is not electrically coupled tothe circuitry; wherein the stress sensitive circuit portion ispositioned with at least a majority of its area within an inner area ofthe substrate that is framed by the continuous metal wall to provide acavity; providing a leadframe including leads or lead terminals; whereinthe bonding features are bonded to the leads or to the lead terminals;and covering the IC with a mold compound, wherein at least a portion ofthe mold compound is excluded from being inside the continuous metalwall.
 18. The method of claim 17, wherein the function the circuitryimplements comprises that of an amplifier, an analog to digitalconverter (ADC), a digital to analog converter (DAC), a voltagereference, a sensor for sensing a physical parameter, or amicro-electromechanical system (MEMS) device including at the sensor forsensing the physical parameter.
 19. The method of claim 17, wherein thebonding features are flipchip bonded to the leads or to the leadterminals.
 20. A method of fabricating a packaged device, comprising:forming an integrated circuit (IC), comprising: forming a substrateincluding circuitry configured for a function, the circuitry includingat least one stress sensitive circuit portion, with at least a portionof nodes in the circuitry electrically coupled to bond pads provided bya top metal layer, wherein there are bonding features on the bond pads;forming a continuous metal wall that is ring-shaped positioned above thetop metal layer that is not electrically coupled to the circuitry;wherein the stress sensitive circuit portion is positioned with at leasta majority of its area within an inner area of the substrate that isframed by the continuous metal wall to provide a cavity; providing aleadframe including leads or lead terminals; wherein the stresssensitive circuit portion comprises an environmental sensor for sensinga physical parameter, and wherein the leadframe has opening configuredso that the stress sensitive circuit portion is exposed to anenvironment; wherein the bonding features are bonded to the leads or tothe lead terminals; and covering the IC with a mold compound, wherein atleast a portion of the mold compound is excluded from being inside thecontinuous metal wall.
 21. A method of fabricating a packaged device,comprising: forming an integrated circuit (IC), comprising: forming asubstrate including circuitry configured for a function, the circuitryincluding at least one stress sensitive circuit portion, with at least aportion of nodes in the circuitry electrically coupled to bond padsprovided by a top metal layer, wherein there are bonding features on thebond pads; forming a continuous metal wall that is ring-shapedpositioned above the top metal layer that is not electrically coupled tothe circuitry; wherein the stress sensitive circuit portion ispositioned with at least a majority of its area within an inner area ofthe substrate that is framed by the continuous metal wall to provide acavity; providing a leadframe including leads or lead terminals, whereinthe leadframe provides an opening for providing the cavity, furthercomprising a lid for sealing the cavity; wherein the bonding featuresare bonded to the leads or to the lead terminals; and covering the ICwith a mold compound, wherein at least a portion of the mold compound isexcluded from being inside the continuous metal wall.